Former Yalie Greg Mangano back with Finnish championship in hand

Former Yale standout Greg Mangano recently won a championship with Karhu Kauhajoki in Finland’s Korisliiga League.

Former Yale standout Greg Mangano recently won a championship with Karhu Kauhajoki in Finland’s Korisliiga League.

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Photo: Submitted

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Former Yale standout Greg Mangano recently won a championship with Karhu Kauhajoki in Finland’s Korisliiga League.

Former Yale standout Greg Mangano recently won a championship with Karhu Kauhajoki in Finland’s Korisliiga League.

Photo: Submitted

Former Yalie Greg Mangano back with Finnish championship in hand

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ORANGE — Greg Mangano landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport the Friday before Memorial Day weekend feeling fatigued and famished after a long flight home from Scandinavia, where he’d spent the previous nine months playing in the Finnish premier pro basketball league.

He was greeted by his father, Ron, who came bearing gifts: a sandwich from their favorite hometown delicatessen, Mr. Kold Kuts in Orange, and a couple of American beers.

The sub and suds have become a sort of unofficial welcome-back tradition for the Manganos since Greg embarked on his overseas career six years ago. Only there was a bit more to celebrate this time. Greg Mangano returned home with a championship, one he personally delivered by drilling the winning 3-pointer in the title game of Finland’s Korisliiga League.

In a tie game, and with two seconds on the clock, the ball was kicked to Mangano in the corner. The 6-foot-10 center — a Notre Dame-West Haven product and two-time first-team All-Ivy League selection at Yale — had no choice but to shoot.

He buried the jumper, clinching an improbable championship for Karhu Kauhajoki, picked to finish seventh of 11 teams in the preseason and facing an opponent in the finals that had dominated the regular season.

“I haven’t won a championship since Little League, so it’s been a drought,” Mangano said. “I couldn’t do it at Yale, and couldn’t do it my first five years at the professional level. This was special. To win a championship at any level takes a lot of luck and right pieces falling together at the right time. It’s probably the best group I’ve ever played with.”

Indeed, it was quite the scene in Kauhajoki, a town of 15,000 in Western Finland, about four hours’ drive north from Helsinki, a place with limited entertainment options outside of the basketball team.

The Karhu club was founded in 1910. This was its first championship; the first time it had ever advanced past the semifinals.

The celebration wasn’t quite on the same grand scale of the Washington Capitals recent Stanley Cup celebration. But it was certainly a party worthy of the end a 108-year championship drought.

“To win like we did, against a team that went 32-8 and ran through the league, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still partying over there,” Mangano said. “I’m still getting pictures of the fans celebrating. It was a big deal.”

Basketball has taken Mangano, 28, to nearly every corner of the globe. Since graduating from Yale in 2012 he’s played professionally in Turkey, Spain, Germany, Romania, Belgium, Dubai and Japan, soaking in the culture while adjusting to different styles of play on different continents.

The European game allows Mangano, a traditional center at Yale, to play as a stretch four, a combination forward position which requires long-distance shooting touch. He turned in his most productive season, among the Karhu leaders with 18.1 points and 8.7 rebounds. He averaged around six 3-point attempts per game, and shot 40 percent.

In the championship game, he scored 22 points with eight rebounds.

Summer provides a couple of months to unwind at home with family and friends. Mangano spends days on the golf course and trains at Yale in competitive pickup games with several teammates still playing overseas like Brandon Sherrod, Javier Duran and Justin Sears and other former area college players.

It can also be a tad stressful. Since European leagues have limits on the number of Americans on a roster, there is much turnover from year to year. Offers will eventually come. When, where and whether they’re worthwhile is another story. He turned down offers from teams in Argentina and Italy last summer; his preference is a return to Japan, a culture and country he enjoyed while there in 2017.

There’s a limited window for pro basketball. At some point he’ll need to put his Yale degree to use. But there are no plans to stop playing as long as he’s healthy and the money is right. It’s a charmed life, a fact not lost on Mangano.

“I consider myself extremely lucky,” Mangano said. “I’ve talked about it with my brothers and parents and they’ve told me to play as long as you can. There’s always time to work. It really is living the dream. I’m traveling the world and playing basketball and I get my summers off to relax and work out and enjoy time home with family and friends. You miss some weddings, birthdays and holidays. But I’ve been fortunate.”

cmalafronte@nhregister.com

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